Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Aug 16, 4:51 AM ET

NVTS max pain

Spot (delayed)$14.53
Max pain · Fri, Sep 18$15+3.3% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$3.38±23.2% by Fri, Sep 18
Put/Call OI0.4948K puts / 98K calls
Call wall$23largest call OI
Put wall$7largest put OI
IV3090.7%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$505Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $3

Event risk before this expiration: Jobs report Fri, Sep 4 · CPI release Fri, Sep 11 · FOMC decision Wed, Sep 16 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Aug 21$12-17.4%5d
Fri, Aug 28$13-10.5%12d
Fri, Sep 4$12.5-13.9%19d
Fri, Sep 11$12.5-13.9%26d
Fri, Sep 18$15+3.3%33d
Fri, Sep 25$12-17.4%40d
Fri, Oct 2$13.5-7.1%47d
Fri, Dec 18$18+23.9%124d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot1511121304050$259M$0
■ put-side pain■ call-side painTotal payout option writers would owe at each settle price (both sides, all open interest, ×100 shares) — low settles hurt put writers, high settles hurt call writers. The minimum — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot151101928374613K13K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)NVTS open contracts per strike for Fri, Sep 18.

Open-interest change — building vs unwinding

Needs two observed snapshot days for this expiration — the comparison appears automatically once the next weekday snapshot lands. We diff real observations only; nothing is estimated.

Volume by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot15110192837461K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spot21221314050356%87%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 92.4% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Sep 18

spotflip 331119273543+$135K$135K
Net dealer gamma per strike, in dollars per 1% move, assuming the standard convention (dealers long calls, short puts) — an assumption, not an observation. Above the amber flip level hedging tends to dampen moves; below it, to amplify them.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Sep 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.0080.01290.00-0.00-0.03
0.95-0.0190.02200.01-0.01-0.05
0.92-0.01100.03520.01-0.01-0.09
0.86-0.01110.05180.01-0.01-0.14
0.79-0.02120.06930.01-0.02-0.21
0.70-0.02130.08420.02-0.02-0.30
0.61-0.02140.09360.02-0.02-0.40
0.51-0.02150.09670.02-0.02-0.49
0.43-0.02160.09420.02-0.02-0.58
0.35-0.02170.08790.02-0.02-0.66
0.28-0.02180.07940.01-0.02-0.72
0.23-0.02190.07000.01-0.02-0.78
0.18-0.02200.06080.01-0.02-0.82
0.15-0.01210.05210.01-0.01-0.86
0.12-0.01220.04430.01-0.01-0.89

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 50 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot181216202813K0
Call open interest per strike, stacked across the checked expirations — each color is one expiry. Strikes are pruned to the liquid center of each chain.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot0.56.512.518.5294130K30K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 363K call contracts, 161K put contracts open.

Reading this honestly

Max pain is arithmetic, not prophecy: the settle price that would minimize what option writers pay out at expiration, computed from open interest alone. Prices sometimes gravitate toward heavy strikes into expiry — dealer hedging is a real flow — but the evidence that max pain predicts settlement better than chance is mixed, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Use it as a map of where positioning is stacked, next to the fundamentals and the earnings calendar, not as a target.

Data: Cboe delayed public feed (~15 minutes), refreshed here about every 15 minutes. Open interest itself updates once daily, before the open. Educational information, not investment advice.

Keep going: NVTS workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk